The invention relates generally to semiconductor device fabrication and, in particular, to methods for fabricating a structure that includes a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and structures that include a MIM capacitor.
On-chip passive elements, such as MIM capacitors, are deployed in many types of integrated circuits, such as radiofrequency integrated circuits. A MIM capacitor may be integrated into one or more of the metallization levels of a back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnect structure using materials that are commonly available in copper BEOL technologies. A two-electrode MIM capacitor includes top and bottom conductive plates, which operate as electrodes, and a capacitor dielectric disposed between the top and bottom conductive plates as an electrical insulator. The capacitance, or amount of charge held by the MIM capacitor per unit of applied voltage, depends among other factors on the area of the top and bottom conductive plates, their separation, and the dielectric constant of the material constituting the capacitor dielectric.
Improved methods for fabricating a structure that includes a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and structures that include a MIM capacitor are needed.